Steve and Terri Belsley first stumbled upon HSSV in a moment of despair while searching for their beloved Shiba Inu, Bella. She had slipped her collar and disappeared during an attack by an aggressive dog that was off-leash, and the Belsleys were doing everything they could to find her. Though Bella was not at HSSV, Terri and Steve recall the staff’s wholehearted support during this difficult time. As a show of appreciation, they donated a portion of the legal settlement from Bella’s attack.

Years later, they still half hope to find her when they scan shelter websites. But their grief was tempered by the love they found with Sammy, a Shiba Inu who had been hit by a car and needed major medical attention. His gentle spirit and voiceless empathy helped both Steve and Terri through their own medical challenges over the next eleven years. Their family grew with the addition of another dog named Sarge and a neighborhood cat, Squeaky. When they lost Sammy after years of unconditional love, Steve and Terri were hesitant adopt again. Enter Soji, their latest Shiba Inu rescue! As Steve and Terri can attest, sometimes it really isn’t up to us to decide who joins our family – our family chooses us.

Today the Belsleys and HSSV share a connection that has overcome grief and loss, and transformed into a long-lasting relationship of enormous support. Terri and Steve have generously created an endowment program that names HSSV as a beneficiary of 25% of their estate, empowering HSSV to shape its future.

“We believe so strongly in the HSSV mission,” says Terri. “The legacy program makes sure HSSV continues to grow, evolve and expand. HSSV’s future is so bright and we are so grateful to be a part of it.”

Jim and Judy Duport have been part of HSSV’s journey for over 30 years, first as annual donors and eventually as monthly Faithful Friend contributors. Over the years, Jim and Judy’s relationship with HSSV has cultivated into one of strong support and trust – which is why HSSV’s Pet Guardianship program became so important to them. Knowing that their beloved dachshunds, Diamond and Dolly, would be brought to HSSV and re-homed together gave them peace of mind, should anything happen to them.

Jim and Judy knew that they wanted to fund an endowment with the majority of their future bequest to HSSV – the problem was, they didn’t know what programs they wanted to ultimately fund.

Judy’s “ah hah!” moment came when she considered the time in Diamond’s life when she required extensive and expensive critical medical care. It took 20 days in intensive care and surgery at UC Davis for Diamond to recover. That’s when it clicked – while she and Jim were fortunate enough to care for Diamond (jokingly rechristened “Platinum”), many people in the same position would not be able to afford the same level of care. And so, Judy decided that the Duports’ future endowment would help cover veterinary care for pet owners who might face the possibility of euthanizing their beloved pets due to medical costs.

From her experience, Judy offers the following advice:

“If you are in a position to start an endowment and are holding off because, like me, you can’t figure out what is important for you personally, my advice is to take your time, focus on your own animals — past and present — and find that connection that translates your love into a gift to others, going forward.”

Steve Hughes never had pets until his girlfriend moved in with her cat. The cat took to Steve so much his girlfriend was a bit miffed! When the cat eventually passed away, Steve began his new life as a father to rescue kittens, starting with Ariel and Bear Bear (both HSSV alumni), followed by Oliver.

In early 2017, Steve found himself without cats, but soon adopted three feral kittens, Jasmine, Brutus, and Mathilda, who were brought to HSSV’s Trap-Neuter-Return program. Poppy and Kiara, HSSV rescues as well, soon followed. He found Esmeralda in his hedge in 2020, and with HSSV’s help was able to trap her, have her go through the TNR process, and ultimately adopt her.

Steve’s support of HSSV began as an annual contribution. In 2019, his contributions blossomed further when he used some of his retirement funds to become one of the first donors to set up an endowment fund. One of our cat adoption condos is named after Steve’s HSSV alumni, and he also funded an upgrade to the Marilyn and Fred Anderson Community Cat Garden.

During an HSSV shelter tour, Steve watched the medical staff focus on a small feral kitten with a blood sugar problem, saving the life of “just a little kitty brought in from the street.” It made a huge impact on him, and he cites the medical program as an important reason in directing his legacy funding. “I have had a very symbiotic relationship with HSSV,” he said. “They have facilitated my ability to have my kitties because they are supportive of pet owners long after adoption, and the staff are always available for help or advice.”

“With regards to the endowment program, HSSV lets me direct my funds to where I want them to go!” he reported. In addition to the medical program, Steve lauds our Regional Rescue and feral cat programs as special and is in the process of enrolling his “six little charmers” in HSSV’s Pet Guardianship program.

Peter Ross has always been an enthusiastic volunteer, beginning when he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in India in the early 1960s. Later his work extended into teaching math at Santa Clara University as a Senior Lecturer and working with the Sierra Club on summer service trips in the US, Canada, and Russia. Eventually, his altruism led him to HSSV, where he completed every dog socialization class to become a volunteer.

In addition to volunteering his time, Peter has named HSSV a beneficiary of 25% of his Trust. Peter is drawn to various aspects of HSSV’s work, such as the “barn cat” program and the spay/neuter program – but most importantly, Peter is a champion of the support HSSV provides to dog socialization and adoptions.

In many ways, Beverly Swanson is the heart of HSSV. She is a volunteer extraordinaire, long-time donor, and parent of two HSSV cat alumni, Macka and Fiona. Her dedication to animals stretches back to her childhood and knows no bounds. At the height of the pandemic, Beverly showed up when other volunteers couldn’t, occasionally working full days socializing and matchmaking cats. To her, the connection with the cats is more important even than her donations, and as a socializer she has identified matches for herself and others.

Her life is intertwined with our lifesaving mission, so it was only natural that she created an endowment fund when HSSV initiated the legacy program.

In honor of a very special cat, Mz Purr, Beverly created the “At-Risk Kitty Fund.” The initial objective of this endowment was to help cats with diabetes and epilepsy, whose medical conditions often lead to euthanasia even though these cats could flourish with proper treatment in a loving home environment.

Because Beverly wanted to see the difference that her endowment made in her lifetime, she decided to contribute annually. This way, she is also able to work with the cats that her endowment is helping. As at-risk cats come in, Beverly is able to socialize them and see them off to their adoptions.

“For me, it’s always been a combination of donating on a long-term basis, adopting animals, and volunteering,” Beverly says. “Deciding to build our own endowment was a culmination of all those experiences.”

Nanci Viera’s support for HSSV stretches way back to the 80s when the shelter was located in Santa Clara. “It seemed that I was always finding lost and stray dogs in my travels and knew HSSV was the best place to take them,” she said.

Nanci hosted a yearly holiday boutique where 10% of the proceeds went to HSSV. A pivotal moment came in 1992, when she saw a cat out in the rain in an industrial area. “I went home, got food, and came back to feed it. That was the beginning of my feral cat colony, which originally had about 60 cats. Through my Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) efforts, my colony is now down to about 12 cats which is a blessing!”

She currently has three rescue colony cats and has also rescued many animals over the years. One special rescue was a deaf, blind, and toothless dog, Rexx. The vet predicted he would probably live only a few months. Eleven years later, when Rexx died, he had earned the name “Rexx the Wonder Dog.”

“I have always wanted to do great things, but since I can’t sing, act, dance or be a lawyer, I have had to make small contributions in a big and consistent way,” said Nanci. “However, upon my death and the sale of my home, I will be able to do some great things!”

Nanci’s contribution and endowment to HSSV will help animals for years to come. A quarter of the proceeds are dedicated to being immediately used for spay and neuter programs, and the endowment fund will last a long time to help the wonderful animals being served at HSSV.

Several years ago, when Curt and Margaret Weil took their first tour of the about-to-be-opened HSSV Animal Community Center in Milpitas, they were extremely impressed by how everything was well-thought out. They also loved the way former HSSV President Carol Novello drove the organization to become a gold standard shelter.  “From the beginning, we saw HSSV as a shining example of a well-run organization,” said Curt.

A self-described “airplane geek”, Curt travels frequently across the country to museums devoted to his passion. Both Curt and Margaret being cat lovers, have developed a circle of “cat friends” who help each other out and share responsibilities with caring for pets when someone is away. All of Curt and Margaret’s cats have been adopted from HSSV, and they’ve typically had four cats at any given time. They currently have two cats named Fred and Earl.

Curt and Margaret always encouraged their friends to adopt from HSSV. In fact, they recommended HSSV to a couple in their eighties who were denied adoption by other organizations because of their age. The couple went on to adopt our alumnus Rodney, a handsome golden retriever!

Both Curt and Margaret, now in their seventies, had careers as financial professionals. So, when doing their estate planning, it was very important to them to ensure they were responsible stewards of what they have managed to build over the years. Since they were already regular donors to HSSV and had been steadily increasing their contributions, the legacy program was a natural next step.

They named HSSV as a beneficiary of 10% of their estate as they were confident in HSSV’s mission to ensure funds are used wisely. “Anyone who cares about animals as their companions would have to look a long time before they can find an organization more worthy than HSSV,” said Curt and Margaret.